Place Names of O'ahu - Koko Head

Koko Head ,as we have learned previously, was actually called Kuamo’ooKäne, the complete name being Kuamo’ooKäneäpua as this was the younger brother of Käne and Kanaloa sent to fetch water from ‘Ihi’ihilauäkea, a fresh water spring at the summit of what is called Koko Head, so that they could mix and drink their ‘awa, a favorite beverage of theirs. If KuamoÿooKäne is the real name, how did Koko Head get its name? It actually gets its name from a small canoe landing on the Wai’alae side of Kuamo’ooKäne. Because of its red dirt and reddish cinder sand, the place was called “koko” meaning “blood”. A fishing shrine nearby was called Pali’alaea, referring to the ‘alaea soil gotten there. ‘Alaea is a reddish mineral used to color Hawaiian salt and is used in traditional medicines. (note: Hawaiian macron and glottal not properly rendered here. Umlaut is macron and apostrophe is glottal)